Hi, I'm Emilia and this is Disfruta el Mundo.

About me and about this blog

​December 2015,

​Hey! I’m Emilia, a Finnish-Parisian young woman, passionate about writing, and currently starting my travels by the Caribbean Sea. Welcome to disfrutaelmundo.com, my travel blog for the coming 6 months. At the moment my schedule looks like this:

Traveling in Jamaica

Traveling in Cuba

Volunteering (and traveling) in Colombia

A trip to some other great place (or two or three) I haven’t chosen yet

Back home to Paris or why not to a new destination :)

Besides traveling and discovering new places and cultures I like music, all kinds of sports, food (!), and well a lot of other things too that you’ll be reading about in this new blog. What I also think is great (and what I do a lot in Paris) is to just wander around aimlessly. Admire beautiful buildings and views, peek into shops, enjoy the sun in parks or by the water. If I had time I could spend hours sitting in cafés, writing books and just watching people. I also consider myself quite sociable and everywhere I go I love to meet cool people and hear their stories. I guess I’m a bit of a dreamer and romantic and sometimes I just start writing about whatever pops into my mind. But that’s ok. I hope it will become a good book one day.

A short story about me. :) I’ve been living in Paris for 6 years now and I recently graduated with a Master's in International Business and New Communication Technologies projects (yes, it sounds fancy!). I also just finished a one-year internship with Microsoft, in a team called Customer & Partner Experience. My job was a mix of project management, event organization, marketing and communication.

A couple of months ago I was at a turning point in my life: studies finally over, what do I do now? Ambitious, curious and interested in so many things I felt that it was too hard to choose. So I decided to take some time off before looking for a first real job, and travel to Central America, a continent I dream about and have not yet to discover. I absolutely love Paris but I want to see something different. Life in Paris is often far from a post-card-like French romantic scene, it can be hectic and busy and people rude and self-centered. For years I've been competing with other students for grades, internships and study programs. Now I’m supposed to be competing with other graduates and get hired at some big, well-known company, settle down and make money. Sure I’m exaggerating a little but I realize now that it's not what I want, at least not yet. I want to do something human-related, genuinely meaningful and that I enjoy. Something where I can help others but at the same time challenge myself and grow as a person. This is why I’m about to travel to Colombia for a business volunteering mission and work with a local association called Fundación La Vecina.

During my Master's in International Business I’ve met students from many countries, made a study trip to China and had classes in cross-cultural negotiation. I’ve also done two internships with a relocation company, in Paris and in Geneva. All this has been very interesting and I'm eager to continue, to volunteer and to see how it really is, working in a country that is completely different from my own and with people who have a different way of living and thinking. I’ll tell you more about it when I’m there and know better what I will be doing.

Besides volunteering, this trip will also be a well-earned break after more than 5 intense years, and all the hard work for studies, jobs and getting by on my own in a foreign country. Even if I’ve liked (almost) every minute of it, I often have been forced to concentrate on what I’m expected to do and to put my own interests aside. Now I want to rediscover how it is to have a life that is a little bit less crazy. To have time to sleep well, cook healthy food, have hobbies and do things that I truly enjoy. And maybe sometimes just watch the sunset on the beach, with no worries in the world...

Because I love making lists, I made a list of "goals" for myself for the coming 6 months. Here it comes.

Emilia’s new life by the Caribbean Sea. I will:

Improve my Spanish

Contribute to a meaningful project

Learn how to surf

Take more time to writing and singing practice

Stay outside as much as possible (on the beach!)

Enjoy simple life

Relax

Decide what I want to do next

I’ll keep you posted about how all that goes. Eventually I think I will go back home to Paris and to my old life (which will then be an even more exciting new life!), find a job and start a career. But then again, who knows where the waves will take me. Let the adventures begin, stay tuned. ;)

xx Emi ​

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Get in contact

For questions, comments, or anything you want to share with me, feel free to:- comment on the blog page- email to emilia.latvajarvi@outlook.fr- add me on ​LinkedIn